5 Search Engine Marketing Trends You Should Know In 2021

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a $100 billion dollar industry with the organic (SEO -Search Engine Optimization) side of the market reaching over $47.5 billion in 2020 and the paid search (or PPC – Pay Per Click) side, just under $60 billion. Phew, that’s a lot of cha-ching!  As far as digital marketing tactics go, SEM isn’t exactly sexy. It didn’t used to be, anyway.

Once upon a time SEM revolved around the almighty keyword, like a moth to a flame. Keywords, On-page Optimization and backlinks formed the beacon that drove your SEM strategy. However, now, there’s much more to SEM than keywords and backlinks. Site and page speed, mobile friendliness/ usability and content freshness all factor into how Google analytics ranks your paid ads and organic listings. Each one of these factors is like its own separate beacon, collectively contributing to how visible you are in search engines (or not).

On top of this, search has gone high tech (well, even more high tech). From Artificial Intelligence (AI) to voice to data, search marketing is going through a digital transformation renaissance and we’re here for it! Below, we list some of the new, exciting (and sexy) SEM trends for 2021.
 

Trend 1: Search Is Becoming Less Transparent

Once upon a time, search marketers had a very particular set of skills. Namely, they were good at identifying the most profitable keywords to target, they obsessively monitored search engine algorithm changes and most of them had some level of web programming knowledge. Unfortunately, modern search isn’t quite as transparent as it once was.

In September 2020, Google announced it would show less search term data to paying advertisers, meaning some advertisers won’t be able to see what queries triggered their ads. This makes it difficult to pinpoint what terms are the most profitable. Google cites privacy concerns for the reason behind the change. This is part of a larger trend around consumer privacy that includes the loss of tracking cookies (the Safari and Firefox browsers are already blocking cookies by default and Google has begun phasing them out in Chrome). This change puts the impetus on brands and companies to use first-party data like purchase history, phone calls and customer interactions.

TechDogs’ Opinion: It’s time for Search marketers to walk in Professor Xavier’s shoes and become mind readers. Well, that’s one way to do it. Another is to focus on better communication with your customers and begin to build a first-party data strategy to help you map the complete customer journey (and segment customers appropriately). You’ll also need to be better at using the data you still have on your high-performing keywords to unearth patterns in search behavior. For example, you can use your paid search campaigns to better formulate your organic SEO and content strategies.
 

Trend 2: Keywords Matter More Than Ever But So Does Content

More than half of the searches on Google don’t result in a click. These are aptly called “zero-click searches” and what this means is that Google’s sending less traffic your way in lieu of keeping more people on Google.com. 

Zero-click searches occur because Google’s showing more content directly on the search results pages. Now you can get the weather, flight information, your local Best Buy’s business hours and much more directly within the hallowed halls of Google’s own domain.
 
What can Weather.com do to combat the above phenomenon? They can buy paid search ads.  They can constantly tweak their SEO approach to compliment (and keep up with) Google’s changing algorithm. Easier said than done, we know. They can also create content that their users really want to consume.

TechDogs’ Opinion: Getting listed on the first page of Google is so difficult, you are practically a lengend once you have achieved this feat. When you add zero-click searches to the mix, it almost feels futile. However, don’t despair. We predict that companies will continue to do expansive keyword research since targeting the right keywords matters now more than ever. Businesses will invest in SEO strategies like improving Core Web Vitals (a fun metric Google rolled out last May which focuses on page speed) to improve organic positioning. They’ll also create content specifically to appear in the zero-click search results that Google shows on its page 1 results (this is likely what Weather.com did). You’ll see companies continue to step up their content game using these smart insights because creating relevant, high quality content works as the ranking factor long-tail terms, keeps your website fresh and means you’re better able to connect with consumers.
 

Trend 3: Artificial Intelligence And Automation Will Rule Search (And Everything Else)

Look, we know what you’re thinking—not AI and automation again! However, the fact is there’s no corner of the digital marketing megaverse that hasn’t been touched by automation and AI, often in tandem. Search is no exception. Google’s algorithm prefers updated, personalized content because that’s what people click on. Trying to produce this content without automated tools is an uphill battle. Content optimization tools like Frase, a tool that optimizes your website’s content so that it’s more visible for voice search, are the future of search.

TechDogs Opinion: Tools, tools, tools! We’ll all be using more tools to create relevant (keyword rich) content, optimize that content, personalize it and deliver it to consumers based on first-party data that analyzes user behavior, transactional data and interactions across multiple channels. Tools like customer data platforms, customer experience software and Digital Asset Management Platforms help businesses create more relevant, targeted organic and paid content. This might not sound like a search marketing strategy but don’t let that fool you. Good content is what ranks well on Google, period. (mic drop)
 

Trend 4: Search Finds Its Voice

Almost 30% of the entire population is using voice search on their phones and half of smartphone users are using voice search technology for a range of reasons from asking for directions to playing music to checking the time. Your search marketing strategy—paid and organic—must incorporate this change in behavior because it’s not going away anytime soon. In fact, speaking is greatly preferred over typing, with 71% of consumers preferring to ask a question rather than type it. Also consider that smart speaker and smart home device ownership is continuing to grow in the US, with 66% of US households expected to own a smart speaker versus just 0.8% in 2015.


TechDogs’ Opinion: Voice queries are different from typed queries. They tend to be longer, more specific and indicative of users who are further along in their decision-making process than traditional text-based queries. We predict that advertisers will have distinct voice-search optimization strategies that target conversational queries instead of keywords. It’s “What is the weather in New York” versus “Weather NY” and “Who played Iron Man in the original 2008 movie” versus “Iron Man actor.” Optimizing for voice can pay off (big time) since Q&A queries tend to rank better than keyword queries alone. Is this Samantha in making? From the movie Her, of course. Only time will tell.
 

Trend 5: Businesses Will Explore Paid Ad Campaigns

Millions of people migrated online when the pandemic hit - for working, shopping and dating. Even the number of active users across social media platforms skyrocketed in 2020. Instagram currently has over a billion monthly active users (up from 500 million in 2019). TikTok, where 60% of users belong to Gen-Z, has roughly 650 million monthly active users (up from 500 million in 2019). Social media usage is expected to increase significantly in 2021 too and digital marketer would be amiss not to use social media platforms for paid advertising.  

Conclusion